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Heavy weapons platoon

 

 
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Heavy weapons platoon is a term from military science
Military science

Military science is the process of translating national defence policy to produce military capability by employing military scientists, including: theorists, researchers, experimental scientists, applied scientists, designers, engineers, test technicians, and military personnel responsible for prototyping....
 which refers to an infantry
Infantry

Infantry are soldiers who are primarily trained for the role of fighting on foot. A soldier in the infantry is known as an infantryman. Infantry units have more physically demanding training than other branches of armies, and place a greater emphasis on fitness, physical strength and aggression....
 platoon
Platoon

A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four Section or squads and containing about 30 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organised into a company , which typically consists of three, four or five platoons....
 equipped with machine gun
Machine gun

A machine gun is a Automatic firearm mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire List of rifle cartridgess in quick succession from an Belt or large-capacity Magazine , typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s, mortar
Mortar (weapon)

A mortar is a Muzzleloader indirect fire weapon that fires shell at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing Ballistics trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
s, rocket-propelled grenades, flamethrower
Flamethrower

A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited liquid fuel; some project a long Liquefied petroleum gas flame....
s, grenade-launchers, anti-tank weapons, and/or other portable heavy weapons.

The definition of "Heavy weapons" from U.S. Army regulations 320-5 (AR 320-5) is: Heavy weapons = All weapons such as mortars, howitzers, guns, heavy machineguns and recoiless rifles which are usually part of infantry equipment.

As with most support units in any army, the size of a weapons platoon is generally smaller than that of its light infantry equivalent.






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Heavy weapons platoon is a term from military science
Military science

Military science is the process of translating national defence policy to produce military capability by employing military scientists, including: theorists, researchers, experimental scientists, applied scientists, designers, engineers, test technicians, and military personnel responsible for prototyping....
 which refers to an infantry
Infantry

Infantry are soldiers who are primarily trained for the role of fighting on foot. A soldier in the infantry is known as an infantryman. Infantry units have more physically demanding training than other branches of armies, and place a greater emphasis on fitness, physical strength and aggression....
 platoon
Platoon

A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four Section or squads and containing about 30 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organised into a company , which typically consists of three, four or five platoons....
 equipped with machine gun
Machine gun

A machine gun is a Automatic firearm mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire List of rifle cartridgess in quick succession from an Belt or large-capacity Magazine , typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s, mortar
Mortar (weapon)

A mortar is a Muzzleloader indirect fire weapon that fires shell at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing Ballistics trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
s, rocket-propelled grenades, flamethrower
Flamethrower

A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited liquid fuel; some project a long Liquefied petroleum gas flame....
s, grenade-launchers, anti-tank weapons, and/or other portable heavy weapons.

The definition of "Heavy weapons" from U.S. Army regulations 320-5 (AR 320-5) is: Heavy weapons = All weapons such as mortars, howitzers, guns, heavy machineguns and recoiless rifles which are usually part of infantry equipment.

As with most support units in any army, the size of a weapons platoon is generally smaller than that of its light infantry equivalent. For example, a typical light infantry platoon consists of 30 to 40 men divided in 3 or 4 squads (or sections) of 9-13 men, whereas a weapons platoon substitutes the squads with smaller groups for mortar teams, machine gun crews, anti-tank teams etc.

Some platoons also include the assault element of a company. A company's weapons platoon will carry portable support weapons by sections, but also include a fast-attack light-infantry specialist squad of soldier
Soldier

A soldier is a general English term that refers to a land component of national armed forces.In most societies of the world, "soldier" is also a general term for any member of the land forces including Commissioned officer and non-commissioned officers....
s trained for breaching, raiding, and close combat.